The Hindu Business Line : ‘Value the customer to beat the economic slump’

Bangalore, Feb. 20 While it’s always been important for companies to value the customer, never before has it been so critical as it is now. Enhancing customer experiences and service is extremely crucial to beat the economic slump, advice consulting firms.

“Especially in difficult times such as this, when there is less money on hand, it is important to do a better job for the customer. The customer is impacted by every job in the organisation. The tough times have done nothing to customer expectations. Customers still expect quality of service; so increasing customer-centricity is important,” says Mr M.D. Ramaswami, Founder and CEO, Celtycs, a firm that advises and delivers on customer experience management.

Agrees Mr Chandramouli, Director - Advisory Services, Zinnov Management Consulting, “Understanding the customer pulse and aligning their service innovation to resonate value is the key theme for companies to emerge out of the slump. It is important for companies to attract repeat business from existing customers as the cost of sale can be significantly lower. Increased customer satisfaction will lead to voluntary/involuntary referrals within their business network, thus improving the possibility of new business.”

Questioning demand

In the current scenario where companies are slashing budgets as the cost factor is a major concern, it makes sense to understand and question consumer demand — an effort that will help reduce costs by 20 per cent, says Mr Ramaswami.

Celtycs uses a method called Skyline, which assists companies to question consumer demand. “By questioning demand, we help determine certain demands that can be eliminated from the system and retain only those demands that are necessary,” says Mr Ramaswami.

For example, a consumer calls a contact centre with a query regarding wrong billing. This is a demand that can be eliminated by enhancing customer experience at the billing end. That is, by improving the efficiency of the billing department where the fault actually lies, billing related queries can be totally avoided.

A company, thus, need not deploy so many people at the call centre to handle queries relating to billing.

Ultimately, by reducing the number of people, the company can cut costs. And instead these people can be redeployed at the billing end where the fault actually lies.

Companies are increasingly realising the importance of this. While some years ago, they were busy growing, the economic slump today has forced organisations to literally apply the brakes and invest time and energy on enhancing customer experiences, says Mr Ramaswami.

More Stories on : Customer Relationship Management

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
SkodaIndia to roll out pre-owned car business in new format

Gemfields to sell Zambia emeralds in India

‘Value the customer to beat the economic slump’

SriLankan Holidays’ new package

‘Discount formats making large stores unviable’

Next to retail toys, gifts

Provogue to invest Rs 25 cr on stores expansion

Yamaha opens music instruments store

Costa Coffee opens more outlets in Pune

Long queues outside jewellery shops, now to sell

Geojit launches property services division

Wipro unveils new notebook